Facebook Users Could Retake Control Of Content With Blockchain: Analyst

Facebook’s privacy debacle could expose the potential for users to leverage Blockchain for protection, an analyst has said.

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Blockchain could be a solution to the battle social media users face over misuse of personal data and content, RBC Capital Markets said March 21.

Speaking to CNBC in the wake of the ongoing Facebook privacy scandal, RBC analyst Mitch Steves said Blockchain is “where we’re going long term” with regard to data integrity online.

“In the future, someone like yourself no longer has to give their photos to Facebook,” Steves told the network’s Fast Money segment.

“Instead, you could just share that photo specifically with people, and then you'd be able to track it and make sure it's not shared with someone who gets access to your information.”

While Blockchain technology has so far not made inroads into mainstream social media technical setups, dedicated Blockchain-based alternatives continue to appear, from dating networks to communities such as Steemit.

As Steves notes, however, as much as the technology offers transparency, Facebook users would still not have full power over how their data spreads across the internet.

“The one problem that it does not solve is that it does not allow you to stop it,” he continued about third parties sharing content which unwittingly became accessible to them via a user’s privacy settings.

“Let’s say Facebook decided to sell your photo to some advertiser… you would be able to see that that transaction happened but you would not be able to prevent that transaction from occurring in the first place.”

In what may now be viewed with a hint of irony, in January, Facebook banned cryptocurrency advertisements throughout its platform over what it described as “deceptive promotional practices.”